


More Than Blood And Bone

by ScytheMatrix66



Category: Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Monsters, POV Original Character, Wendigo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:47:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28338705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScytheMatrix66/pseuds/ScytheMatrix66
Summary: She was a wendigo. A monster in human skin, parading about the very creatures that she consumed to feed her insatiable hunger. Always wreathed in facade. Never showing her true face.He was a corpse, many corpses, actually, stitched together and brought into being against his will. Outcast, alone, hated and feared.Maybe they really aren't so different.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Ok! So, this is the first fanfic ive ever posted, mostly cuz its the first fic ive ever completed even a chapter's worth of. I got some ideas of where im going with this but its more just a "see where this takes me" kinda deal overall. Also, feedback is appreciated!

Hooves pound against the dirt, blood thunders through veins, breath comes in powerfull bursts that freeze into a cloud trail of steam, like the fumes of a roaring engine. I've always relished the thrill of the hunt. The race against the gnawing hunger that clawes at my organs, the promise of even the faintest hint of satisfaction from the eternal famine that plagues my existance. Skeletal limbs imbued with an ethereal, unholy power launched my gaunt form like a wraith through the trees, hot in pursuit of my chosen prey. 

A man, of average height yet sturdy build, likely a working class peseant, ran as though the very devil himself was after him. Fear radiated from every cell in the man's body and I could feel the drool dripping down my exposed, needle sharp teeth, the cold winter air that flew past my face crystalizing it into frost that my hot breath melted as soon as it formed. My stomach clenched and I pushed on harder, overtaking the man in an instant pouncing from the thick tree limbs, spindley fingers outstretched, long daggered claws peircing flesh before my hooves ever touched the ground. 

The man knew a fast end, that was the best mercy I could give as my teeth burrowed into the meat, crushed through bone, feasting ravenously until all that remained was the blood on the ground and the shreds of golden hair that escaped my stomach's wrath. They caught my eye, lying there inoccently as though the blond strands didnt remind me of a time that felt so long ago, but really wasn't. I ignored the tightness in my lungs and the lump in my throat, focusing instead on the way the seething hunger quieted ever so slightly, that feral, single minded focus receeding until it decided to rear its head again. With a final huff, I turned and began to make my way home through the winding forest trails. 

Wwwww 

This was how i had spent most of my sunday nights, since long before I moved to this little village. Needless to say i was well versed in keeping secrets, and keeping the fact that i had secrets secret. No one suspected a thing when the young widowed and childless homesteader showed up late to the market looking a little more than tired but with a plentiful supply of carved and sewn toys and sweets to sell for the village children. My chickens laid plenty of eggs and my goat gave milk which i delivered on tuesdays to the tavern, where I had made good friends with the barmaid, Helen. Once in a great while I would sing for the church, and i attemded mass like everyone else. Sometimes one of the townsfolk would commission a piece of clothing from me, and they were always very pleased with the results. I was Abigail, quiet, helpful, demure, and kind. I loved children, I loved animals, i never swore, and i never touched a drop of booze. 

It was so. FUCKING. LONELY. But it worked. I kept my head down and no one noticed, no one cared. No one had any reason to suspect anything was up at all, because no one even knew that wanderers from a few towns over were going out into the woods never to return. No one knew that there was a monster lurking in the woods, no one knew- 

"Have you heard the rumors, Abby? They're saying there's a monster lurking in the woods 'round here. Wicked, innit?" My heart lurched in my chest as I looked up at Helen where she perched on the countertop of my market stall, pushing aside a doll to make room. 

"A monster? Oh dear!" Ever the timid one, I responded accoringly, schooling my expression into one of mild worry, rather than allow the thought of "oh fuck" to show on my face. "I do hope the huntsmen are okay."  
"Those boys? They'll be fiiine," she drawled. "There aint nothin' that can hurt Jeb Williams, you mark my words!" 

I would bet everything I've ever owned that Jeb, a sweet kid with both the strength and luck of only the finest of brain dead, glue drinking idiots, would not hold up against a member of an ancient shapeshifting race of supernatural beings cursed to eternal famine that feeds of the flesh of human beings. 

Just saying. (Though i did apreciate that Helen was trying to be reasuring to a concerned friend.) 

"I suppose you're right," i chuckled softly. "Where did you hear about this, anyway? At your shift?"  
"Yeah, old man Thompson got a letter from his neice out a few towns over - you know the one." She plucked the doll she'd previously pushed aside up off the counter, fiddling with its clothes and straightening its skirts, examining the stitching like it held some grave secret. My leg wanted to jitter from the tension but i refused to allow it. "Apparently a girl fell in the river out there, and when her man came to save her he saw some kinda demon loomin' over her. Supossedly the guy shot the thing and it ran off, with a blood trail to prove it was real." She curled her fingers through the doll's hair, tugging gently, nervous though she tried to hide it. 

"Oh my, the poor dear. Was she alright?" 

"Yes, she wasn't injured, so that's good news at least. And a gunshot would keep any nasty hiding away for a while, so hopefully that demon wont be terrorising anyone anytime soon." She grinned, setting the doll back down and hopping up from my counter. 

"Back to work?" 

"Yeah, you know the routine, food dont buy itself!" Helen waved as she made her way down the crowded, snow coated street to the tavern to help with the lunch rush. I waved back, far more relaxed than I was at the start of the conversation. That town was just a little too close to this one for my taste in hunting grounds, and I sure as hell hadn't been shot. Besides, hunting by rivers was too easy, like shooting fish in a barrel. I preffered more of a challenge. 

A little boy and his younger sister came scuttling up to me, a fistfull of coins in hand, and as i gathered their jumbled order with a patient smile, I was left to wonder. 

If I wasn't out there, then who or what was?


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY I cranked this bad boy out in like a day and i gotta tell ya, i think im really starting to get somewhere with it. Thank you guys so much for the kudos and the comment, I'm really glad you're enjoying it so far! Feedback and constructive criticism it greatly apreciated!

It didn't take long for curiosity to overtake me. A "demon" was spotted around people and confirmed to exist somewhere within the general area. I knew this thing could just as well be a bear for how reliable the information was, but a part of me just had to know for sure. Besides, the last thing i wanted was some other big shot cryptid thinking they had a right to my hunting grounds, and putting me at risk of discovery. Blunt as that sounds, I had put a lot of time and effort into slipping into the folds of society in a place where i could survive without living like a hermit, and I'd damn well like to keep it that way, even if it meant living a facade. 

And so it was that after a few days of planning, preparing, and getting things in order for me to dissapear for a few days, I went to deliver my excuse to Helen. The last thing i needed was her trying to give me a surprise visit as she sometimes did, only to gather a mob to hunt me down if she found me missing. Helen was protective like that, and i suspected it had something to do with the old "widowed and childless" tragic backstory of one Mrs. Abigail Carter. 

Although that backstory did come in handy at times, case in point: 

"Helen, Clover ran off this morning, I'm going to out in the woods for a few days to find her." 

"What?" Helen looked up from the dishes she was scrubbing in the tavern kitchen. It wasn't unusual for us to hang put here, given that pretty much the entire town knew we were friends and i made my weekly milk and egg deliveries here. "You can't be serious, out in the woods, at this time of year? You'll freeze!" 

"I can build fires, she cant." 

"Abby, I know how much that dog means to you but is this really necesary? Can't it at least wait until im free to come with you?" 

"You know how close she is to having her pups, Helen, what if something goes wrong? They'll die out there! Please, I need to do this, I have to find her." A surge of guilt rolled alongside the hunger in my gut. I wasn't lying, that dog was very close to gliving birth, but she was at my house, snuggled up in a nest of blankets in my room, with a plentiful supply of food and water. 

Helen had always interpreted "childless" as "miscarried" and i never bothered to correct it. I did genuinely feel bad about using that against her, but i knew - and could see as her resolve crumbled before my eyes - that it was the only way to get her well and truly off my back to do what i needed to do. 

"Alright," she conceded reluctantly. "But you better promise me that you'll pack extra layers - twice as many as you think you'll need! And here -" She whirled away from the washtub, hastily wiping her soapy hands on her apron. She made her way to the far side of the room, muttering to herself as she gathered various rolls of bread, wrapping them in a fresh clean towel and shoving the bundle into my hands before i could stutter out a polite refusal. 

"Take this, Lord knows you don't eat enough as it is. You still got that old shotgun?" She paused suddenly for me to answer, and the only response i managed to formulate was a nod. "Good, take it. Never know what you'll run into in those woods, and you'd better be back on monday, or I'm gathering the whole town to find you, got it?" 

I gave a soft chuckle, genuinely heartwarmed by my friend's concern, even if i didnt deserve it. "Thank you Helen." 

She smiled at me before shoing me out the door. "You're welcome, now go find that dog!" 

Wwwww 

Helen's deadline of Monday gave me five days to search, the first few of which yeilded few results, but it was a wonderful opportunity to stretch out my other form, black glistening fur and stag skull head on full display, massive antlers no longer itching at my scalp to be free. I kept my satchel cinched around my hips and weaved through the tree trunks on all fours, my claws and hooves leaving little divets in the powdery snow that dissapeared with the cold winter breeze. 

It was at dusk on the third night that i heard the sounds of shuffling footsteps. Most animals were wary of getting close to me, so the sound rang out in the quiet. Chances were, it was either human, or some form of cryptid that wasnt afraid to aproach. Most of them that actually knew what I was would avoid me, but wendigo are native to North America, and in these lands, likely entirely unheard of. Still, i took no chances, tucking myself up into the limbs of the trees and reaching out to conceal my presence from whatever was coming. The form quickly became visible through the trees. It was incredibly tall but it stood hunched, like the world weighed on its shoulders. It looked like a man, with a wild mane of dark hair, matted and tangled with debris. His skin, i soon realized, was a deathly pale, the yellow-green of a rotting corpse and a long thick scar ran across his forehead from temple to temple. He didn't smell like a living human, but he didnt have the reek of an old corpse, either. Could this be who I was looking for? 

He dropped into the snow under the aprawling branches of a nearby tree, the best kind of shelter this stretch of forest had. He plucked bits of twig from the hovering branches and set them in the snow by his feet. He seemed to be favoring an arm, and it looked like his shoulder was injured. He breathed great heaving pants from the pain, and feebly tried to ignite the twigs with two rocks he pulled from the pockets of his ragged coat. He fumbled a bit before giving up and just curling in on himself, shuddering as a gust of wind kicked up the snow. 

I sighed. I knew i had a mission to acomplish and only so much time to do it but this poor thing looked lost and hopeless and it tugged at my chest. I was a monster, true, and I had no choice but to terrorize and devour humans to survive, but damnit, I was one of them once, and i could still feel sympathy over the everpresent hunger. I couldn't leave him like this. 

I slipped silently from my perch and ran off to a small opening in the trees I'd passed a few minutes ago. I dug out the snow to make a pit in the ground, lined it with rocks, and gathered the wood for a decent fire and an old fallen log to keep him at least somewhat up out of the snow. I set the fire ablaze and when i was sure it would survive, i set off back towards the man. 

Now the question was how to get him to follow me without scaring him off. Luring people into traps was easy, just weave a little illusion of someone calling to them, or show them glimpses of someone they knew through the trees. Problem was, i didnt know anything about this guy, so the only effective illusion i could make would be that of someone or something trying to help, and that brought me to another roadblock. 

This man clearly lived alone, and was a traveler but not by choice. A man who doesnt know that snow will kill a fire clearly would not be in the wild if he had any other choice. He must've been chased out. Abandoned. He probably wouldn't trust a human. 

I walked up to him, still hiding myself behind the veil of illusion i weaved, and settled down next to him in the snow, laying on the ground like a dog, arms folded under me so he wouldnt see the long, curled, and deadly sharp claws that adorned each finger. My ears perked up and foreward, and i tried to make my body language as cute (or just non threatening) as possible. I let the illusion drop, breathing a puff of warm air on his bare foot. 

He jumped slightly, picking up his head. His eyes were milky and yellow, waxy like they were blind but from the way they locked onto my own, i knew they werernt. 

He stared at me for a while, i knew what he was seeing. A long skeletal form, jagged and gaunt, like the slightest breeze could topple it. A head that looked very much like the skull of a deer, white, hard and smooth, with black slits for a nose and no visible teeth, hidden behind the bone plated jaws. Two gaping black pits served as my eyes, colored only by the rings of red iris that surrounded the miniscule black pupils. A rack of massive antlers sprouted from my skull, pointed and deadly, all curled foreward like rearing snakes, poised to strike. Silky black ears perked up from underneath the antlers, nestled in a wild mane of thick black hair that curled in a tangle of half formed ringlets. 

I waited, pressed into the snow, heart rate begining to speed as the seconds ticked on with no movement, no sound. Just blood red staring into pale gold. Then, somehow, miraculously, instead of cursing or striking or running, or freezing in abject, soul clenching terror, he gave a small, bitter smile, milky eyes dulling with sorrow. 

"Are you lost as well, forest spirit? Or have you simply come to drive me out as so many have before?" His voice, deep and rich as molassess, spoke in a tone that could only be described as defeated. His eyes were empty. He was not afraid of me because he didnt - couldnt care anymore. At this moment faced with what many would consider the most horrifying of potential endings he could not bring himself to care whether he lived or died. Fate had put this poor bastard through the meat grinder and back and he was not okay. 

And i knew exactly what that felt like. 

Slowly, gently, i picked myself up from the snow onto all fours. I nudged his leg with my snout, huffed, and began walking towards the fire, turning to look over my shoulder after a few steps. The man looked confused, but after a glance in the direction i wanted to go and then back at him, he got the message. 

The man stood, and i began leading him through the woods.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, i know this one is later in coming out BUT its like twice the length of the last chapter and yall get some character development and bonding, so thats gotta account for something right? *cue awkward laughter*
> 
> ANYWHO thank you so much for the comments, you guys have no idea how happy it makes me just to know that someone even bothered to look at my writing! Feedback is always aprecciated!

When we got back to the fire, i walked up and sat across from the log i'd pulled over, folding my legs and sitting straight like a person. The man hesitated, somewhat sinking into himself and half hiding behind the nearest tree, so i nodded towards the log. He still seemed nervous, shrinking under my gaze like a frightened child, so i decided to try something. I turned towards a pile of wood that I'd collected for the fire and pulled out some pieces to feed the growing flames. With my attention taken off of him, he felt safe to move, carefully and skittishly picking his way towards the log. He came up to it and glanced at me, i made no acknowledgment that id noticed. Finally he let himself drop, sighing with exaustion and holding up his trembling fingers to the warmth of the fire. 

I quit rummaging in the woodpile and instead turned to my satchel, pulling it open carefully so as not to slice the leather with my claws. Picking through the contents of the bag, mostly medical supplies and a few useful tools, i came to the bundle of bread that Helen had insisted i take. I didnt have the heart to refuse her and felt that at the very least i should honor her wish to take it with me. It seems it'll go to good use after all. 

I pulled out the bundle and grabbed a loaf of bread, big enough to make a decent, if small, meal for one person. I held it out to him over the fire - we were both tall enough that we could reach over it without fear of injury - and he looked up at me from the flames he'd been gazing into. 

His waxy eyes flickered from the bread to my face, hungry, but hesitant. Afraid, like i might pull it away last second or try to hurt him if he got too close. Maybe he thought it was some sort of test, convoluted and rigged against him. I could almost hear the thoughts buzzing through his head, my ability to read people and his clear body language spelling out everything he felt in that moment, as bright and obvious as the orange blaze between us. 

"I understand that this is hard to accept, especially coming from a stranger, but I don't want to hurt you." His eyes flicked up to my face in surprise as i projected my voice to him. This form didn't have the vocal cords of a human but i could mimic any sound i could conjure in my head. He didn't expect that i would be able to talk, i could see it on his face. I cursed internally, thinking i'd just scared him off as his yellow eyes narrowed, but that thought stopped as he opened his mouth to speak. 

"That is rather difficult to accept, you are correct. Furthermore, why would a being such as yourself stoop so low as to offer a wretch such as i the warmth of a fire and satisfaction of a meal, unless you intend to gain something in return?" His words were sharp and bitter, a petty way to lash out where he felt voulnrable and frightened. An act of kindness was too good to be true, even though a small part of him still dared to hope. 

I let out a rueful chuckle. "It's only stooping if it's below you, and frankly, helping someone who needs it shouldn't be below anyone, regardless of who they are. Besides, i do gain from this, i get someone to talk to who won't try to shoot me on sight." His eyes flicked down towards his injured shoulder and i put two and two together. My ears pinned back and i ducked my head in an embarrased, apoligetic wince. "Uh, sorry, didnt realize that was a bullet wound. My bad." 

He looked back up at me, expression softening slightly. 

"It's alright." And he accepted the loaf of bread from my still outstretched hand, warm to touch from being held over the fire. I let him take it entirely from my claws before i dared to move my hand, bringing it to rest on my lap with the other. I sat basking in the warmth of the flames as he ate, stomach twinging at the thought of food but not yet ravenous to the point where i needed to hunt, lest i lose myself to the hunger. 

I noticed that the man had stopped moving, and glanced up. He sat, half of the loaf in hand, staring at me with a curious yet concerned look on his face. 

"What are you thinking?" I prompted gently. 

"Your form is incredibly gaunt, so surely that must mean you are hungry, yet you do not eat, instead offering your food to a stranger. Why is that?" 

I'd wondered when that would come up. "My body can't be sustained by human food, and it does almost nothing to stave off hunger. A friend had insisted i take that bread with me, but i would rather have someone eat it than let it go to waste." He looked at me like he wanted to say something, but decided against it, turning instead to finishing the bread in his hands. I watched how he moved, heavily favoring the injured shoulder and in the light of the fire i could see the glimmer of dark blood, oozing from the wound, and the smudges of flaking black where he had bled onto his coat and it had dried. It looked like the wound was a few days old, and though the bleeding seemed like it had been strangely slow, chances were, this was the "demon" i was looking for. 

When he finished his meal, i spoke. 

"Should probably patch up that shoulder, if you want it to heal right. Joints can be tricky, and the last thing you want is an infection making it worse." 

He tried to shrug it off noncholantly, only to realize the hard way that i had a point. Grimacing, he hissed in discomfort and clutched at his bad arm. 

"I suppose you are correct in that as well," he forced through the pained grit of his teeth. "Though i have no medicinal supplies and no knowledge of how to use them if i had any." 

"Well, i guess it's your lucky day, because I -" I unbuckled the satchel's strap from around my hips and held up the bag with a cheeky wink " - never leave home without 'em. Here." I stood up, brushing some of the snow out of my fur and came around the fire to join the man on the other side. 

I sat down a few feet away, giving him plenty of personal space but close enough for me to see what i was working with. "Mind if i take a look?" He looked reluctant, but with a glance at his shoulder he resigned. 

"So be it." 

"Alright, let's see..." i mumbled, shifting around so that i wasnt blocking any light, but it was difficult to get a good look at the wound, what with the flickering of the flames and the dance of light and shadow over the dark hole surrounded by dark blood and dark fabric. 

"Actually, hang on, let me -" i shifted around until my form blocked out the light, letting my eyes get used to the darkness. "Ah, there we go." Now i could see. It was a ragged hole, as was to be expected with weaker projectile weapons, a small blunt object ripping its way through flesh with sheer blunt force, rather than the clean slice of a bullet with more power and speed. The opening wasn't huge but definetly bigger than what a bullet would cause, my guess was a shotgun slug. Looking around at his back showed no signs of an exit wound, so the slug was likely lodged in his shoulder, which would explain why he was so sensitive to movement. Luckily though, it didnt hit the joint itself so while there probably was damage to the bone, it was pretty unlikely that his shoulder would have any permanent damage. 

"Okay," i sat back, moving to settle on the log beside him and out of the way of the fire. I didnt miss the way he relaxed as i moved away. "Welp, the long and short of it is that there's probably not gonna be any permanent damage but the shotgun slug is still lodged in your shoulder and you are definately gonna wanna get that outta there before the wound closes, else it'll just keep causing more damage when you move your shoulder. Ya got that?" I checked in, and he nodded in understanding. 

"Now the problem is, i could take it out, but its lodged in there pretty deep and that would take some surgery level of messing around that i would not reccomend doing anywhere outside of a very clean environment with very good lighting so whoever does it can see what theyre doing, in other words: not here." I dragged my bag to my side, one again digging though it as i talked, and pulled out a long strip of white cotton fabric. "Best i can do here and now is bandage it up to keep any debris out. That'll go a long way towards stopping infection, though i will have to get your coat and shirt out of the way. You ok with that?" 

He tried not to show it, but i could see how he tensed at the suggestion, a flash of incredible discomfort on his face before he pushed it down, staring at his pale, veiny hands. He chewed gently at his thin, dark lips, like a child who was trying very hard to think without instinctively bringing his thumb to his mouth. This was something that intreagued me about him, from the moment i first spotted him. He looked like a young man, albeit a few feet taller than one. I would guess late teens at the very youngest. But he acted like a young child, and showed various instinctive behaviors that most people grow out of by the age of like, 10. He was skittish and defensive to be sure, but relatively easy to win over with just a few acts of kindness and gentle words. 

There was definetly something inhuman about him, there was no denying it. He towered over other humans almost as much as i did, his body straight up looked like a corpse that just got up and started walking, he spoke and understood like an adult but those childish, instinctive mannerisms told another story. Was this some kind of necromancy? Someone's kid or little sibling died so they built him a cool, giant new body to come back in? 

"You say bandaging it will prevent infection?" I blinked startling out of my train of thought as he spoke. 

"Hm? Oh, yeah. Ideally you would clean it first, but the best way to do that is with alcohol, and all of mine is at home." 

"And i doubt any physician would stand the sight of me long enough to permit me entrance into his clinic, let alone treatment." He chuckled bitterly. My ears flicked back in a wince of sympathy. Supernatural healing does not lead to stress free doctor visists. Quite the opposite, actually. 

"Very well, then. If it cannot be helped, then i will allow you to bandage my wound. I only ask that you please attempt to aggrivate it as little as possible." He cringed out the last of that sentince, probably unhappy that he was reduced to requesting that i be gentle as his entire means of self defence in this moment. 

"Of course, here, lemmie help." I reached out and helped him pull his coat from his shoulders. The fabric was stiff and coarse, and I could tell that it had been made from thick wool but it had been worn away and torn from sheer use to the point where it wouldnt protect anyone from a breeze, let alone snow. It was also filthy - the entire thing, not just any particular spot - and i honestly couldnt tell it it had been black to begin with or was just so incredibly stained. The seams were showing, some threads were popped and unravled creating more holes and the hole damn thing looked like it was one snag away from desintigrating into dust and grime. 

Safe to say i knew what my next big sewing project would be. 

I carefully took the sleave in one hand, hyper aware of every claw, and guided it over his arm, while the other gently pried the flaking fabric away from the wound, dried blood crumbling to sticky dust in my hand, clinging to the fur. His shirt wasnt much better, a rag of a garment with fewer holes and stains but the gaping bullet hole and subsequent bloodstains clearly marked the end of its usefullness. 

When the shirt was also gone he shuddered from the missing layers, goosebumps raising along his deathly pale form. Blue veins traced his inner arms under the waxy, greenish yellow skin, and more thick scars traced his lean but muscular form. The wound in his shoulder stood out starkly, a black blemish on a pale canvas, surrounded by black ooze that dripped sluggishly from the ragged opening which was traced in the form of a building scab. 

"I'm going to try to get this extra blood off, ok? I'm gonna have to use the snow, so tell me if you want me to stop and we can take a break alright? I dont have anything for the pain so youre gonna have to tough it out." I waited until he gave a nod of approval behind the curtain of hair i looked up to find him hiding his face with. I didnt comment on it, instead taking a handfull of snow and, holding my claws up away from his skin, began to gently clean the blood off of the area surrounding the wound, scrubbing with the fur of my palm. While i did so, i couldnt help but glance back at his scars, one ran around the base of his neck, two more around his shoulders directly over the joint, another set just below his hands and a massive Y shape stretched from beneath both nipples down to just above his belly button. They were prescise, their locations clearly planned out, though i could see from the marks that whoever had done the stitching wasnt well practiced. Still though, each piece fit with the others like a jigsaw puzzle, and beyond the uncanny coloring and intimidating height, this body was what most people would consider to be very atrractive, it was clearly put together with painstaking care and attention to detail. So then why was this man stumbling alone in the woods like a lost child? 

That was when i noticed that i'd never even bothered to ask the man his name and suddenly felt like a fuckin idiot, focusing my attention entirely on the task at hand in my embarrasment. 

"So, uh, i dont think i caught your name," i started, hoping to make up for that little blip in proper social conduct. 

"I have never been given one." He replied, bitterness and sorrow clashing between his voice and the eyes hidden by the stream of black hair that cascaded down his face. 

"Way to go, dumbass!" A little voice in the back of my head heckled. If i had a movable face at the moment i would be cringing but instead my shoulders hunched slightly and my ears turned back, before perking up as a thought struck. 

"You ever thought about picking one for yourself?" 

From his expression i could tell he hadnt, and we fell into a comfterble silence as he considered it, and i finished wrapping up his shoulder. Once i tied the fabric off he spoke again. 

"I think i should like to be called Adam." He decided, with a brighter glint to his eye at having taken the matter into his own hands. 

"Adam, i like it." I extended a hand to him. "It's good to formally meet you, Adam. My name is Abigail, you can call me Abby." 

He took my hand in his with a small grin. "It is good to meet you as well, Abby." 

Adam pulled his filthy clothes back on to help block out the chill and we decided that in the morning, we would set off back to my house, so that i could better treat his shoulder. We settled in on either side of our campfire and as i drifted off, a rush of giddy happiness drowned out the gnawing of my empty stomach. 

I made a friend today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Btw that whole word vomit about what bullet wounds look like is total bullshit that i just sorta slapped onto the page. Its entirely speculation and i honestly have no idea if it is remotely accurate, and same goes for any medical procedures i describe, and any future injuries that i might happen to talk about. Just a little disclaimer :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOLY MOTHER OF FUCK this chapter did NOT want to be written! But its here now so finally we can move on to developing an actual godamn plot and hopefully my writing pace will pick back up again. Sorry about the wait, and if this chapter is a bit clunky, i just finished writing it and its almost midnight so...
> 
> ANYWHO on with the story!

I woke early that morning. The sky was still black but that was just the time of year. The winter solstice was soon and then the days would get longer but for now, it stayed dark late and got dark early. These long black nights were my favorite for hunting, the thought made my gut twinge and i could feel that i was slowly begining to drool. Taking on my other form for so long took energy, made me hungrier. Waiting until sunday to hunt like usual would be pushing it. 

I shook my head. Later. I would deal with this later. Right now i had other things to worry about. Glancing across the fire, now reduced to warm coals, i took in the form of Adam, curled into himself and peacefully asleep. I was glad that he wasnt having nightmares, for both of our sakes. 

It hadnt snowed during the night, so i took some smaller twigs from what little was left of the woodpile id gathered, and restarted the fire. I pulled another loaf of bread from my bag, holding it above the flames, and let the fire warm it through, slowly turning it in my claws. As i did this, i looked up at the stars, pinpointing the north star and figuring out which direction home was from there. It was a straight shot through forrest, about a long days walk if we stayed directly on track and kept a good pace. I'd been combing the woods thoroughly in every direction from my house, so i hadnt made it too far. 

I glanced back to check on the bread and saw that Adam was awake and sitting up, glancing around in wonder as if he couldnt believe that last night hadnt been a dream. 

"Mornin', Adam," I greeted. "I would've let you sleep more, but i guess its a good thing youre up now. We've got a long day of walking ahead of us, think youre up for it?" 

"I have done nothing but wander from place to place from the day i entered this world, another day of walking will be no issue." He stated matter of factly, blinking away the confusion of being adressed by his new name. 

"Good to hear!" I passed him the bread, nicely warmed through. "Eat up, if we leave now and keep a good pace, we'll be back by nightfall and I'll have time to hunt." The drool was begining to pool in my mouth. 

I turned and dug through my bag one more time, taking inventory and making sure i had everything. "I dont have anything for the pain, so youre gonna have to try not to jostle that shoulder, and i aint got a ton more fabric on me, either, so dont rip those bandages, got it?" 

He nodded, his mouth still full of bread, and stood up from the fire, much smaller than it had been last night and dying out without new fuel. I buckled the bag back around my hips and snuffed out the fire as he brushed the snow off of himself, and then together we headed out. 

This time, i walked upright, and with Adam beside me, I once again noticed his height. In a normal house, his head would brush the ceiling, so i figured he mustve been somewhere around 8 feet tall. I was still taller than him, even without counting the towering sprawl of my antlers, but the fact that he was anywhere close to my height was something new to me in this form. Whoever put him together had made sure that he was properly proportioned, though, so i couldnt even imagine the amount of splicing and connecting that went into extending the limbs and torso, beyond the external stiching that held the limbs to the body. As someone who had a habit of stitching things together myself, (and also as someone with basic knowledge of anatomy) i could admire the pure tenacity that went into the project, despite the outcome of... well, whatever happened to Adam that led to me finding him stumbling alone in the woods with a shotgun slug in his shoulder. 

I swallowed down the drool in my mouth at the thought, ignoring the tightness in my throat and burning acid in my gut. It was getting harder to avoid the thought of hunting, fuck, i needed to eat! 

I just had to hold out until we got back, and then i could go galivanting off into the woods. I huffed. I really needed something else to think about. Thankfully, Adam provided that for me. 

"Abigail, you said your name was?" He started hesitantly, his pale eyes flickering to me from beneath his black mane. 

"Oh, please, just call me Abby, Abigail is for formal situations and signing documents," I chuckled, eager for the distraction. "What's up?" 

"You had mentioned earlier, your... house, if i remember correctly? And the bread you have given me, you said came from a friend of yours, and just now you mentioned signing documents - " he cut himself off with a deep breath, as if summoning the courage to say what he wanted to. 

"Do you... live, among people?" He blurted, and i didnt miss the way he curled in on himself, as if he expected an attack. I didnt bring it up either. 

"I do, actually. Believe it or not, i am actually very good at, ah, hiding in plane sight, so to speak." I gave a conspiratual wink. 

"But dont worry, my house is smack dab in the middle of the woods. Used to belong to some old mountain hermit, actually. According to the townsfolk, he was a real ass to everyone, 'specially kids and animals. When the old man finally died, he didnt have anyone to pass the house on to, and of course none of the locals wanted to buy it, so the place became a property of the township. They marked the price down dirt cheep, just trying to get rid of it, and i bought it off of them." 

I let myself ramble a bit, honestly kind of enjoying the rare chance to openly talk to someone for once, regardless of the subject matter. And to his credit, Adam was listening, and did seen genuinely interested in what i had to say. We wound up spending almost the whole walk talking, and as Adam came more and more out of his shell, I found that he had some interesting points to contribute. Adam was very intelligent, and he picked up basic explainations of things very quickly. The trade off here was his general ignorance of the world - likely from lacking experience - and a rather large dose of nievete. Once again, i found myself wondering how old he was, and at this point, if he remembered anything at all about his previous life. 

Somewhere along the way, only a few hours or so away from home, the hunger was making me jittery, to the point where it was getting difficult to hide that anything was wrong. My teeth, slick with a mouthful of drool, slid and grinded against each other behind jaws of bone and if i had been speaking manually instead of projecting my voice, the words wouldve been garbled beyond recognition. My flickering eyes landed on a patch of dead nettle stalks, and i perked up. 

"Hey, Adam, you know what that plant is?" I nudged him gently with my elbow without really thinking, but he didn't seem too bothered by it so i didnt apoligize. 

"I have seen it many times before, though I do not know what it is called. Why do you ask?" He turned towards me curiously, and we both stopped walking. 

"That right there, is Stinging Nettle. Did you know you can make string out of it?" My fingers were twitching restlessly, and i desperatly needed something to fiddle with. I hoped to high hell he would be interested so that i would have an excuse to move my hands. I did not want to scare him off and if he knew how hungry i actually was, he would be booking it faster than i could say "wait". I needed to stay distracted. 

Thankfully, i had caught his interest, pretty thoroughly, actually. His eyes flicked to the dead plant with a blatant, burning curiosity. 

"Can you really?" He asked, totally failing to hide the interest in his expression. 

"Yep!" I chirped, immensly greatful that projecting my voice prevented it from cracking. My entire body was tense, pulled tighter than a bowstring, and my fingers could not be still anymore. "Here, lemmie show you how its done." 

I plucked a few stalks and began explaining the process of peeling, twisting, and winding as we continued our brisk walk. My claws plucked delicately at the fiberous strands, well accustumed to various forms of fine detail busy work, a new distraction in hand. 

Adam's face light up with wonder when i asked if he wanted to try it, and again i was hit with the thought that there was no way in hell that this man was anything other than a child beneath that sallow skin and inhuman height. 

"If you don't mind me asking, and this is really just out of curiosity, how old are you?" I questioned. 

Adam glanced up at me, then back to the slowly forming length of twine in his hands, debating his answer. I didnt push. He had gotten pretty comfterble around me over the course of our walk, he would answer, i knew it. 

Sure enough, eyes still locked on his hands, he responded. "To tell the truth, in all sincerity, i have not walked this earth but for two years, come springtime. I was not born like a man, but created as the wretch i am, despised by all, my very creator included. I am unnatural, an abomination, a monster." He curled in on himself, wincing at more than just the irritation to his shoulder, eyes flickering in my direction but never quite managing to lock onto me, as if he feared i'd bolt if he did. 

I didnt. I let out a bitterly amused huff. "Well, i guess that makes two of us. But i can assure you, whatever nasty things people have called you, theyve called you out of fear, with no consideration of whether or not its deserved by your actions. In my case, those words would be aproppriate. In yours," i turned to where Adam had fallen behind in a disbelieving silence. " - i wouldnt be so sure." 

I kept walking, but didnt hear his footsteps pick up again. "C'mon, we're burning daylight!" 

As Adam cought up to me, i could see a genuine smile between the strands of his curtain of hair.


End file.
